Just a year after leaving Scotland, Chris Paterson, the former Scotland captain, is to return to play for Edinburgh after signing a two-year deal with the capital city club yesterday. He was the second current international to be unveiled, with Jim Hamilton, the Scotland lock, confirming that he will be moving north from Leicester.

Though Hamilton’s move has been on the cards since the end of last year after he revealed his frustration at the lack of action at the English club, Paterson’s was more of a surprise. He left the club with a year left on his contract during last summer’s bitter and protracted row between the then owners of the club and the Scottish Rugby Union, and though he had failed to capture the affections of the Gloucester fans in the same way as he had achieved at Edinburgh, still had two years left on his deal.

Unlike last year, the switch back to his original professional club seems to have gone through without acrimony. “Chris has been an outstanding professional both on and off the field since joining us after the World Cup and we wish him every success with this move,” Dean Ryan, the Gloucester coach, said.

Paterson is being signed by Edinburgh to cover both full back and fly half, and Andy Robinson, the coach, made it clear that his remarkable goalkicking record - the player is on a run of 33 successful shots at goal for Scotland - had played a big part in the decision to try to win him back.

“We want to compete at the highest level and to achieve that objective we have to have a world-class goalkicker,” Robinson said. “Unquestionably ‘Mossy’ [Paterson’s nickname] is a world-class goalkicker. To move the squad forward it was important to have a player of his ability in our ranks. We’re signing him to compete for a place in two positions - full-back and stand-off. Having spoken with him I’ve been struck by his real desire to play for Edinburgh and with a player of his status available it increases our options.”

He will be joined by another of his international colleagues with Hamilton also leaving English rugby to head for Scotland. “I’m really looking forward to working with Andy [Robinson],” Hamilton said. “I’ve spoken to him about the move and he seemed to be very excited about working with me. He is one of the best forwards coaches in the northern hemisphere. I know what Andy will be expecting from me and, hopefully, he can develop me and push me on to the next stage of becoming a better player. I’m really excited about it all.”

He will also be guaranteed a lot more rugby with Edinburgh than he was getting with Leicester. The player felt the lack of action with the English club was holding him back as a player and hindering his chances of international selection. While he was a regular member of the starting XV during the World Cup and the early RBS Six Nations games, he lost his place for the Ireland match and then picked up a serious ankle injury seconds after coming on as a replacement.

Robinson was obviously pleased. “Jim is highly skilled in the basics of the game,” he said. “He has real line-out prowess and he is a really strong scrummager. Another important quality for Edinburgh will be his mauling work, which will complement the rest of the squad. He is a good character as well and it is great that we have added another talented, young Scottish player to the squad.”

The action at Edinburgh was mirrored over at Glasgow where they announced the resigning of a trio of current players, Thom Evans, Kelly Brown and Dan Turner.

While the latter two were always likely to remain, Evans had been the subject of interest from England. He says he is staying put because he believes that remaining with Glasgow and Sean Lineen, the coach, is the best way to further his international prospects.

Ulster: M Bartholomeusz; T Bowe, A Trimble, R Dewey, S Danielli; P Wallace, I Boss; J Fitzpatrick, R Best, T Court, C Del Fava, J Harrison, M McCullough, N Best, R Wilson. Replacements: N Brady, B Young, R Caldwell, K Dawson, K Campbell, N O’Connor, M McCrea.
Glasgow: B Stortoni; L Fa’atau, M Evans, G Morrison, T Evans; D Parks, C Gregor; J Va’a, D Hall, M Low, O Palepoi, D Turner, K Brown, J Barclay, J Beattie. Replacements: E Milligan, A Newman, K Tkachuk, J Eddie, S Pinder, S Barrow, H O’Hare.
Referee: T Hayes (Wales).